Poirot Investigates: A Hercule Poirot Collection by Agatha Christie with David Suchet (Narrator)

We only listened to two or three of these stories since the rest had been covered in the other collections. My Storygraph will have a lot of bloated audio numbers but I think we are done with the short story anthologies for now.

May 3-6, 2026.

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

I started this while waiting for a physio appointment. I was very gripped by it. What an excellent novel. I enjoyed the exploration of what it means to be human and learning about one’s self in a abusive relationship. Whenever I read a robot / android book, I think I should read more of them because I find them relatable and moving. This one was more gripping and dark. It was a metaphor for domestic abuse. I was frustrated in the last half, but the ending made up for it. My favourite scene in the book is when the two female robots run away together. That was fun. I need to read more robot books.

May 4-7, 2026 on Kobo Clara BW and Kobo Libra 2.

Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life by Alex Mayyasi, Hosts of NPR’s Planet Money with Alex Goldmark (Contributor), Alex Mayyasi (Narrator), Hosts of NPR’s Planet Money (Narrator)

I listened to this from Libby since I was early to put it on hold due to listening to being a long time listener of the podcast. I think it would have been more interesting to read it alongside the print book which I am still waiting from library. The content of the book was a compendium of many Planet Money episodes that I had listened to over ten years. I did not learn anything new. It would be more interesting for economic newbies.

May 4-10, 2026.

Joyride by Susan Orlean (Narrator)

I have been going through a lot of Orlean’s books the last few years. The Library Book was great and I liked a lot of the articles in On Animals. I really like her style of literary journalism. This was a long memoir around 14 hours and chronicled her writing and creative life. I found it fascinating. She became a writer out of college starting off at small newspapers and magazines and finding her way to her dream job at the New Yorker. I wonder how attainable that would be now since so much of nonfiction writing is now online. I found value in listening to her discuss her writing process and lessons particularly the idea of “Report. Think. Write.” First reporting and researching, then reflecting on it before even starting to write. Writing itself is usually not the issue as much as the first two steps. I hope she continues to write more essays and interesting articles which I can keep reading and listening to for many more years.

April 19-May 1, 2026.

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie with Hugh Fraser (Narrator)

The second Poirot novel. I liked this one more than The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It was set in France which set it apart from most of the other Christie stories. Poirot had a French rival named Monsieur Giraud who was competent enough but not to Poirot’s level. The rivalry made Poirot annoyed and added another dimension to the case. Hastings acted like a lovesick fool. At least his love interest was interesting. Onwards to the next Poriot.

April 27-May 2, 2026.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower

This lighthearted Victorian epistolary novella series had high ratings. It seemed up my alley. It was funny with a plucky heroine. I liked the tone and the main character but Emma had financial problems because of annoying family members and misogynistic laws. I realized that financial stress was a trigger for me especially when the protagonist has little power against them. It was not dark but I did find it irritating for most of the book until things ended on a more hopeful tone. I’ll likely continue.

April 26-30, 2026 on Kobo Libra 2.

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell with Ann Marie Gideon (Narrator)

I had fun with Wordslut that I quickly listened to the next Montell book. For some reason, she did not narrate this one. The narrator did a good job though. While some bits of the book were interesting including the section about fitness, the actual cults did not have a lot of new to me info. I still like Montell’s writing and will listen to her latest book this year as well.

April 13-18, 2026.

Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie with Juliet Stevenson (Narrator)

We had listened to a few of these already in the other anthology collections. It was still good because I really like Miss Marple and I adore Juliet Stevenson’s narration. I thought most of the stories were well done and generally more consistent than the Poirot short stories.

April 8-18, 2026.

Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna

Another Irish literary novel. I am hoping to read about five this year as opposed to the dozen last year. This one was very similar to Greta & Valdin and had a similar style to Sally Rooney but with quotation marks. It was set in modern London and most of the events of the book happen over the course of one day. The setting did a lot of the work for me since I lived in the same part of London as one of the main characters. I regularly visited the same big Tesco. London was one of the characters and the author was able to describe the tired and scummy yet alive feeling of London in summer. There were themes of repression, miscommunication, stress, and past trauma. There were too many characters and perspectives and it could have been tighter around the main core characters. It was a nice debut.

April 15-19, 2026.

Grandma’s House by Alice Melvin with Alice Melvin (Illustrator)

This was a lovely children’s book which used cutouts in the illustrations. Very cozy and I would have loved this kind of book as a kid as well. As I learned English through ESL, I had less time with children’s books so I am discovering a lot of them now.

April 19, 2026.

Crumble by Meredith McClaren with Andrea Bell (Illustrator)

This was in my library pile for awhile. I kept putting it off because the art style looked too bright and juvenile. I was not sure if I would like the visuals. I grew to like it with the good writing. It felt like a cozy video game. It had baking, grief, family, and friendship. Very well done middle grade graphic novel.

April 19, 2026.

Country Christie: Twelve Devonshire mysteries by Agatha Christie with David Suchet (Narrator), Christopher Lee (Narrator), Hugh Fraser (Narrator), Isla Blair (Narrator), Judith Boyd (Narrator), Juliet Stevenson (Narrator)

We are moving through the Christie short story collections very quickly. There was no repeat from the previous batch but I did find one Poirot story had a similar plot to The Blue Train. I liked Tommy and Tuppence a bit more even though their story had a really silly ending related to twins. There was another Poirot where we did not quite grasp the structure. There was a really chilling and dark one called “The Edge” which was excellent.

April 2-7, 2026.

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith with Julie Smith (Narrator)

A psychology based self-help book by a British psychologist. This was like a crash course on modern therapy techniques. It felt like a session that I had with my psychologist a couple years ago when I needed to work on my anxiety. There were also sections about depression and grief. I liked listening to it because I already used a lot of these techniques including the meditation and gratitude journalling. In that way, I did not learn many new things. It was a good reminder of the practices which have helped me in the last few years.

April 8-11, 2026.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Not enough of Marian Halcombe. She was awesome. I love classics. I really like mysteries. I am not big on thrillers. This one had more suspense and thriller vibes after the first 20%. It was Victorian paced so it was slower but the plot and the characters moved so things did not feel wasted. As a modern reader, a lot of the twists were predicable. Count Fosco was a fun villain too so having two memorable characters made this book enjoyable. Very good writing. Looking forward to reading The Moonstone in the future since I liked Collins’s character and story telling.

April 5-14, 2026.

Capital Christie: Agatha Christie’s London Mysteries by Agatha Christie with Judith Boyd (Narrator), Christopher Lee (Narrator), Hugh Fraser (Narrator), David Suchet (Narrator), Juliet Stevenson (Narrator), Ciaran Saward (Narrator)

We are back to listening to the Agatha Christie short story collections. One of the Christopher Lee ones was in a previous collection so I remembered the ending. Whenever I listen to these Christie collection, I notice her repeated plot points. I also notice one of the Poirot stories had a really hard to grasp motive. There was also one a sentimental story “The Lonely God” about two lovers which we found quite nice.

March 25-April 1st, 2026.

Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell with Amanda Montell (Narrator)

Been wanting to try Amanda Montell’s nonfiction for awhile. This one focused on words, language, and feminism. It was interesting. I enjoyed Montell’s style of writing and learning so many random language facts especially when done from an intersectional perspective.

Since I am walking less these days, it means less audiobook time. I listened to the second half of this while doing chores and knitting. I am in a knitting slump so I may need to listen to knit more while listening to audiobooks at home.

April 3-5, 2026.

The No-Pressure Book Journal by Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara

Supporting my favourite book podcast. There was less than hundred pages of text content and the rest was journal and prompts. I am going to use this book to track for high five star reads and to track my wheelhouse. I have noticed my reading doorway has veered towards Language a lot more in the last year. As I grow and change through time, so do my reading preferences and this journal will reflect some of those changes for the next couple years at least.

April 3-5, 2026.

The Art of Spending Money: Simple Choices for a Richer Life by Morgan Housel

DNF after 28 pages. I thought this was a personal finance book but it was more of a self-help finance book. I flipped through it and read some reviews. It seemed to have a lot of common sense tips which would be good for younger people but not for me.

April 6, 2026.

Bud Finds Her Gift by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Cute and lovely children’s book about a girl who finds purpose noticing the things around her especially in the natural world. There is an actual poop song relating to the circle of life. That made me laugh. Sweet.

March 31, 2026.

Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry with Imani Perry (Narrator)

I listened to this for a black history month challenge. It was an African-American history book through the colour of blue. It was an intersecting intersection of history, art, and race. The narration was great. I just found it hard to get into and it was not my kind of history book. I appreciated its originality.

March 25-30, 2026.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

I knew going into to this novel that it was one of the less popular works of Ishiguro. I loved The Remains of the Day and really likede Never Let Me Go. Ishiguro is such a talented writer. That was displayed in this strange mythological retelling of Britain after the Romans and King Arthur. Aside from the writing, I liked the main older couple Axl and Beatrice. Their ending was beautifully written and the novel had themes about collective memory, love, and death. It was a moving and sad ending. I would have preferred the whole book about this couple since I did not really care for the other characters. I actually was impatient when reading about the boy Edwin but I can see how his chapters were to showcase a young person’s perspective and to feature on the other pivotal character Wistan. Still, this novel’s slow pace and long chapters dragged. I read most of the book in one day propelled mostly by the great prose and the deadline for a challenge. I still like Ishiguro because all three of the books have different premises yet interesting and heartbreaking character writing.

March 27-31, 2026.

New Girl by Cassandra Calin

I read a compilation of the author’s comics and enjoyed them. I found this middle grade graphic memoir loosely based on her life immigrating to Montreal. This was easy going and enjoyable for an hour read.

March 24, 2026.

Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

I am having a great time reading Shakespeare again and listening a production in tandem. For this one, I listened to the 1998 Arckangel audio drama with Saskia Reeves as Beatric and Samuel West as Benedict. After finishing, I found two productions with David Tennant including one with Catherine Tate opposite as Beatrice. I’ll have to listen to those later. I really enjoyed this play because Beatrice was awesome. She was clearly the the wittiest and quickest character in whole play. I did not buy the romance at the start, but it somehow won me over when Benedict started falling for her. Maybe because I was a Beatrice fan by then too. The other hijinks were fine albeit depressing that a woman can be slandered so easily. All of this added to good background to the lively banter and relationship between B&B. This was fun and probably became my second favourite Shakesperean comedy after Twelfth Night. This is the last of my standalone Shakespeare books. From now on, I should be reading Shakespeare from an omnibus edition that I have been meaning to unwrap for 15 years.

March 22-24, 2026.

Sweep by Louise Greig with Júlia Sardà

A picture book about a little boy who sweeps on a dramatic scale to deal with things during his bad mood. It was fine. I picked it up because I really like Sarda’s illustrations and they were nice as usual. Not enough of the art compared to the others.

March 27, 2026.

My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean, Susan Orlean (Narrator), Karen White (Narrator)

This audiobook included essays narrated by the author and Karen White. At least three of the essays were ones I had already listened to in a previous Orlean anthology (the animal one). On the whole, I liked this collection better than The Orchid Thief but less the animal one and the Library Book. I still like Orlean’s writing and wanted to listen to this before reading her latest Joyride.

March 14-20, 2026.

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

As a big fan of the Emily Wilde series, I was looking forward to the author’s newest novel. This fantasy set in an alternate 1920s Montreal did have some cozy vibes. There were cats, magic, and baked goods. This novel felt heavily inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle (so was Wendell in Emily Wilde). I liked the world building as I like Montreal. It was cozy. I felt indifferent to the romance. I did not find myself interested in Havelock as a male lead. Read it more for the vibes.

March 15-20, 2026.

Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

What do I feel like I read Real Person Fiction (RPF)? Overall, this was fun with some caveats. It had some good moments mainly the premise, the time travelling characters (Graham, Maggie, Arthur), and funny dialogue. I think the book was held back by the intrigue plot in the last third and the narrator. Graham was a bit too perfect like Jamie from Outlander but this was silly RPF so why not. On the other hand, the nameless narrator was a too passive and even a tad dull in that I did not really feel I knew them. It was made worse by the fact that she was not named. This was gimmicky and made me even less interested in her. This made the romance unsatisfactory and unearned. I liked little bits and did not even mind the twist so no regrets really.

March 21-22, 2026.

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton by Gabrielle Hamilton (Narrator)

DNF. This was recommended on Goodreads as a food memoir. I have been missing some good food writing and thought this 2001 memoir would fill the void. I listened to 25% which covered the author’s upbringing and family. There was not enough food and I found the pace rather slow so I gave up.

March 21-23, 2026.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Lesly Manville (Narrator)

This was a fun cozy murder mystery. A slow start mostly due to the audiobook narration. I switched to print after 28%. I liked the banter and the cast of characters. There were probably a couple too many red herrings but I liked the journey. It made me really miss the UK because it had so many little references and brands. It’s been awhile since I liked a contemporary mystery. The narration was fine but Joyce and Elizabeth sounded too similar especially for Joyce’s first person journal chapters.

I enjoyed the film adaptation as well. It had the right cozy look and great cast. I did not mind the changes. I look forward to the next book in the series and the sequel film.

March 4-11, 2026.

Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, Lulu Miller with Lulu Miller (Narrator)

This was part biography and part memoir. It was difficult for me to be engaged for most of the book since I did not understand what the point was. There were a lot of twists and discussions about humanity. It was actually quite a philosophical book because it dealt with humans trying to understand the natural world. It showed the bad side of human beings and their incessant desire to classify, control, and fascistly destroy what it deems to be lesser. It was an uncomfortable listen but one that forced the reader to encounter a darker side of humans and their quest for knowledge and control.

March 9-13, 2026.

Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell

Another hard read. I should have read the synopsis of this book before reading it. It was on many Irish literature lists and it was in high demand at my library. The book was about domestic abuse and how difficult it was to be a victim of it while pregnant and with young children. This was a stressful. It captured the ongoing exploration of female centred stories coming out Ireland in the last ten years. The book was difficult content wise but it was extremely fast moving from writing point of view. There was a lot of dialogue and I was able to read it very quickly despite the topic. It was a good novel outside of my comfort zone of topics and well done. I would not recommend it easily though.

March 14, 2026.

What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street?: Recipes for Kids from Around the World by Felicita Sala

Very cute picture book with recipes. Easy to read for my birthday.

March 15, 2026.